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I'm a beginner player who has just been playing a matchevery day or two for the last few months, and have been really enjoyingit. My boss and I have been having great rallies, hits and digs. Now I've decided to take it up a notch and check out a local table tennisclub. Before playing with them, the coach sold me a new racket that hadthicker rubber/sponge and much stickier, which I take it is great for spin.
I played my first match against one of the worse clubplayers, and when she served I’d basically just block the ball to go back overthe net (with no forward force or movement at all) and the ball went springingover the net and out. I was astonished,and chalked it up to some sort of secret-serve she used which must have had alot of top spin to make the ball barely touch my paddle and go over andout. She continued to use the same serveand I slowly adapted, angling my paddle lower and lower so that I would justblock the ball with the lowest angle ever, then the ball would barely make itover the net to stay in. If I lost focusand had what I felt would be a “normal” angle with my other paddle, it would goflying.
I then played another guy and the same thing happened –was this club teaching these players the same serve and was beyond my skilllevel? Overall I managed to get morepoints than them, but it was an epic struggle just to control the ball. Note I did not really ever swing the paddlewith forward movement the whole night…it was all I could do to keep the ballin.
After that strenuous evening I went back to play with myboss the next day, thinking I had an evening of great practice and a new racketguaranteed to punish him. He served tome and the same thing happened – the ball bounced off my racket and went to themoon. Now wait a minute…he wasn’t doingany special serve…he was as clueless as I was. So what’s going on here?
I’m guessing it must be the new racket, and the thicker rubber/spongeis propelling the ball much further to the point that my control is a 1, notthe stated 10.
So what do I do? DoI go back to my cheap racket and start amassing points but limiting my growth,or do I learn to use the new paddle? Ifso, how do I use it? Is it only designedto be used with the most top spin of my life on every single shot? I’m hoping this is a common problem for beginnersand someone has an explanation, because so far I feel that it’s an extremelysteep learning curve just because of the new paddle.
Thanks in advance, looking forward to learning and growth
I played my first match against one of the worse clubplayers, and when she served I’d basically just block the ball to go back overthe net (with no forward force or movement at all) and the ball went springingover the net and out. I was astonished,and chalked it up to some sort of secret-serve she used which must have had alot of top spin to make the ball barely touch my paddle and go over andout. She continued to use the same serveand I slowly adapted, angling my paddle lower and lower so that I would justblock the ball with the lowest angle ever, then the ball would barely make itover the net to stay in. If I lost focusand had what I felt would be a “normal” angle with my other paddle, it would goflying.
I then played another guy and the same thing happened –was this club teaching these players the same serve and was beyond my skilllevel? Overall I managed to get morepoints than them, but it was an epic struggle just to control the ball. Note I did not really ever swing the paddlewith forward movement the whole night…it was all I could do to keep the ballin.
After that strenuous evening I went back to play with myboss the next day, thinking I had an evening of great practice and a new racketguaranteed to punish him. He served tome and the same thing happened – the ball bounced off my racket and went to themoon. Now wait a minute…he wasn’t doingany special serve…he was as clueless as I was. So what’s going on here?
I’m guessing it must be the new racket, and the thicker rubber/spongeis propelling the ball much further to the point that my control is a 1, notthe stated 10.
So what do I do? DoI go back to my cheap racket and start amassing points but limiting my growth,or do I learn to use the new paddle? Ifso, how do I use it? Is it only designedto be used with the most top spin of my life on every single shot? I’m hoping this is a common problem for beginnersand someone has an explanation, because so far I feel that it’s an extremelysteep learning curve just because of the new paddle.
Thanks in advance, looking forward to learning and growth